Director of Major Gifts

For more than 50 years, Children’s Council has been the heart of childcare and early education in San Francisco, advancing the belief that high-quality childcare can transform lives and communities. Our more than 150 team members help families navigate their childcare and preschool options and secure financial assistance to pay for it. We provide home-based childcare businesses with the training and resources to succeed.

Through a wide range of free programs and workshops, we support parents and caregivers as they build child development skills. As the city’s second-largest nonprofit contractor, with an annual budget of over $240 million, we are a major stakeholder in the childcare system. We educate the public and advocate for increased investment in early education at the local and state level.

If you are a childcare champion, we want you on our team.

Job Title:
Director of Major Gifts
Department:
Advancement
Reports To:
Chief Philanthropy Officer
FLSA Status:
Full-time (40.0 hours per week), Exempt
Salary: $127,000–$145,000 annually

Reporting to the Chief Philanthropy Officer, the Director of Major Gifts will build and manage a growing pipeline of major individual donors and new foundation funders, serving as a strategic partner to the CPO in identifying, cultivating, and securing five- and six-figure philanthropic investments in Children’s Council. This is a foundational, high-impact role on a growing Philanthropy team. The successful candidate will operate as a strategic partner, generalist, and builder in the near term, with the expectation that the role will specialize further as the team and portfolio grow.

This role focuses on the discretionary, relationship-driven side of fundraising, cultivating and securing major gifts, whether from individuals or foundations.

The Director will have responsibility for the full pipeline of existing and new individual donors and will focus on establishing relationships with new foundation partners. Once we find alignment and are invited to apply for foundation funding, the application and reporting process is managed by other team members.

This role does not currently have direct reports. As the Philanthropy team grows, it is anticipated that a role will report to this position.

• A relationship builder who thrives on identifying, mapping, and cultivating new networks
• A strategic thinker who can align Children's Council's funding priorities with individual donor and foundation interests
• Comfortable operating as a generalist in a growing team, with the flexibility to push forward fundraising strategies across multiple channels in service of building something new
• A confident, natural collaborator with the CEO, Board, and current donors, able to activate their networks and build trusted relationships
• Energized by the opportunity to raise the profile of Children’s Council within philanthropic circles

• Develop, qualify, and personally manage a growing portfolio of major gift donors and prospects across both individual and foundation relationships
• Personally (and in partnership with staff and board leaders) cultivate, solicit, and steward donors capable of five- and six-figure gifts
• Partner with the CPO to build and execute a moves management strategy for the organization's top prospects, including those in the CPO's own portfolio
• Identify and pursue opportunities to deepen relationships with existing donors who have capacity to grow

• Identify and cultivate relationships with new foundation funders and prospects, with particular attention to funders whose engagement style mirrors individual major gift cultivation
• Partner with the Grants and Contracts Manager on new funder strategy: this role focuses on relationship-building and positioning, while the Grants and Contracts Manager owns proposal writing, compliance, and reporting for both existing and new funders
• Support the Grants and Contracts Manager with strategic context and relationship insight for proposals and reports to newly cultivated funders

• Systematically map the networks of the CEO, Board of Trustees, and current major donors to identify new prospects
• Develop strategies and materials that equip the CEO and Board to make warm introductions and connections on behalf of Children's Council
• Represent Children's Council externally to build the organization's visibility among San Francisco…